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What does the future look like for weekend warriors?

Jarrett

Jarrett

Jan 19, 2004
2,793
75
NBTX
#1
To start I should probably clarify that by weekend warrior, I mean musicians that have day jobs, but also play music for money or fun on the weekends.

My background, I've been gigging on and off for the last 20+ years. When I started gigging in my area, you could easily get a gig in a number of places on pretty much any night of the week in either an original or cover band. Flash forward to today, it's getting tough to find places to play even on Friday and Saturday nights.

It appears that fewer and fewer venues are offering live music as an option. And when they do, it is on one, maybe two nights a week. This is clearly a response to the declining number of people that will get out and attend/support local music.

It also appears there are two types of venues emerging for live music. "A" Clubs and dive bars. At one point in time, there was more of a spectrum between the two, but it seems that most are moving towards either one or the other.

With professional musicians landing the majority of the "A" club cover gigs, weekend warriors are left to scrap for a declining number of dive bars that support live music. Sort of a race to the bottom scenario.

Is this what you see in your area? Are there other outlets becoming available? What are other options? If this trend continues, what does the future look like for the weekend warrior musician?




Side note - I find a lot of old bar players are ending up in Praise and Worship bands at church now. And a lot of new musicians are getting their start there instead of in the clubs. Is this our future?
 
#2
It's a wave, man. Back in the '70s my dad would be out gigging every weekend. He got out of music by the mid '80s and did so until somewhere mid '90s I think and he saw an increase in gigs up to the point where they would simply throw in new songs at Friday's gig, work it a bit during the Saturday gig and have it down by Sunday's gig. No time for rehearsals.

Since then it's gone into decline quite a bit and I am happy if I can just gig 1x/month in these here parts. Hopefully it will start increasing again in the next few years.
 
#3
Nice post Jarrett. Well thought out.

I have a couple of thoughts.

1) We did it to ourselves. We played for free or cheap. We devalued our product.

2) The sheer numbers of genres out there is astounding compared to when you and I started out. Back then there was country, rock, funk/soul, and Jazz (for the most part). There were plenty of people who wanted to see a "rock band". When you went to see a "rock band" you knew exactly what you were going to get. These days, there are hundreds of factions and genres that fit under the "rock band" umbrella. Could be classic rock. Could be hard rock. Could be metal. Could be pop rock. And most music fans are stuck in their own little ruts. They only want to hear songs from the 25 or so CDs in their collection (or downloads or whatever). So you simply can't satisfy an audience any more. How dare you throw in a 90s rock song in between Zep and Freebird!!!! How dare you play a screamo song at a post punk show!!! It's just too hard to keep up with what will satisfy the most people at the most shows.

3) Politics. And I don't mean actual politics. I mean all the crap that goes along with many live bands. Cancellations, drug/drinking problems, member changes, volume issues, arriving late, technical issues, etc. Having a band play can be a huge PITA in some areas for some club owners. It is just simply easier to have a "jukebox" or house system playing music rather than deal with the baggage we drag with us in many cases.

4) People are much harder to impress these days. I went to two circuses (both "name brand" acts) in the past two weeks. My family had a great time, kids and all. But you would not believe how many people left saying they were "boring" or "cheesy". If you can't impress people with a guy jumping out of the sky on fire into the mouth of a lion covered in lights with an elephant on his back, how is my rendition of Toad the Wet Sprocket going to get them off? If a lady balancing her twelve brothers on her neck while riding a unicorn on the top of an exploding school bus doesn't get people excited, then what exactly am I supposed to do with a bass that will get them pumped up? People are just "too cool to be impressed" these days.
 
#4
Man I have thought about this quiet a bit myself as well. Not just for local music either. It seems like the big music acts mainly appear to tour on festivals now with other bands. I can name at least 3 venues in my area that have nowhere near the amount of concerts they use to.
I don't know if it's a "trickle" effect and what becomes bad for the goose is bad for the whole gander,or if like previously mentioned it's just a trend.

The way I see it if it's hard for a new act with tons of radio play to find a big gig on a large scale without the support of 5 other large bands,what chance does a local band covering the same songs a thousand other cover bands do have?

Or perhaps where at a place in which,most the top 40 stuff and new rock has so much digital musicianship (loops,digital instruments,etc) it's just really hard to replicate and most places would rather have a DJ play the actual song rather than hearing a cover band interpret that same song,or attempt to play it as good as they can.

I hope we get a lot more responses to this question because I'm real curious to read a wide array of peoples thoughts on this.
 
#5
Where i live, live music is more about wedding band,original band, tribute band, jazz or classical, otherwise an iPod or a DJ is all you need to hear the song that you don't know how it will end up by a cover band ... you know maybe they won't play that little thing that you expect because they don't have enough instruments or they just thought it wasn't a necessity etc.

We don't have band in church either.

But where I live, metal is very big, almost every metal band come here but again those are original band( even those who start and are relatively unknown ).
 
#6
Where I live, the music scene is not as gloomy as some of you seem to report, although there is definitely the A/B club thing going on. We play a lot of B clubs. In the small city area we frequent, there are probably about a dozen places that have live music on any Friday or Saturday night, and often on Sunday afternoons.

Honestly, there really are opportunities for bands where I live to play regularly, if you're happy with 2-4 times a month (typical weekend warrior stuff).
 
#7
I see the irony in your user name, as everything you said was a "bingo"

Bingo said:
Nice post Jarrett. Well thought out.

I have a couple of thoughts.

1) We did it to ourselves. We played for free or cheap. We devalued our product.

2) The sheer numbers of genres out there is astounding compared to when you and I started out. Back then there was country, rock, funk/soul, and Jazz (for the most part). There were plenty of people who wanted to see a "rock band". When you went to see a "rock band" you knew exactly what you were going to get. These days, there are hundreds of factions and genres that fit under the "rock band" umbrella. Could be classic rock. Could be hard rock. Could be metal. Could be pop rock. And most music fans are stuck in their own little ruts. They only want to hear songs from the 25 or so CDs in their collection (or downloads or whatever). So you simply can't satisfy an audience any more. How dare you throw in a 90s rock song in between Zep and Freebird!!!! How dare you play a screamo song at a post punk show!!! It's just too hard to keep up with what will satisfy the most people at the most shows.

3) Politics. And I don't mean actual politics. I mean all the crap that goes along with many live bands. Cancellations, drug/drinking problems, member changes, volume issues, arriving late, technical issues, etc. Having a band play can be a huge PITA in some areas for some club owners. It is just simply easier to have a "jukebox" or house system playing music rather than deal with the baggage we drag with us in many cases.

4) People are much harder to impress these days. I went to two circuses (both "name brand" acts) in the past two weeks. My family had a great time, kids and all. But you would not believe how many people left saying they were "boring" or "cheesy". If you can't impress people with a guy jumping out of the sky on fire into the mouth of a lion covered in lights with an elephant on his back, how is my rendition of Toad the Wet Sprocket going to get them off? If a lady balancing her twelve brothers on her neck while riding a unicorn on the top of an exploding school bus doesn't get people excited, then what exactly am I supposed to do with a bass that will get them pumped up? People are just "too cool to be impressed" these days.
Click to expand...

Invalid Link Removed
 
#9
In my area, there a quite a lot of places to play. The problem is that the money keeps getting lower and lower and it doesn't make sense to have a large band anymore unless you're agent booked playing weddings and corporate gigs. Bar gig bands should be no more than 5 pieces. 4 piece is optimal to come outta there with $100-$125 each.
 
#11
People have far more, and better, options these days, and most of them revolve around staying at home. It's not a cycle, it's a sea change in entertainment. The 80s are not coming back. I really hate being gloomy about it, being a lifelong working musician (mostly in the 'weekend warrior' mode), but it's pretty apparent.
 
#12
1. Want to see live music? ...YouTube, Wolfgang's Vault, etc.

2. The bar band economy revolves around sales of alcohol. Drinking and driving laws are enforced much more strongly these days.

3. People don't need to go to bars in order to socialize now you have Facebook as a forum of recreational group activity.
 
#13
Bingo said:
4) People are much harder to impress these days.
Click to expand...

That's a bingo all right!

It's the downside of YouTube. I even have musician friends that psyched themselves right out of the scene this way. I used to play with a guitarist that always liked "the best" and wanted to be among "the best". So I'll see people posting about a new band they like and if he replies it will be with a link to a piece by somebody that is "the best" in that genre.

So yes, there are plenty of people that don't see the attraction in going to a bar or club to hear music that they can't control (control is a big factor now) when they can sit home and find a full 5-star live concert by Chick Corea or Paco de Lucia or Meshuggah etc.

It doesn't help that people often can't smoke anymore, so body odor is prevalent and noticeable and stricter DWI laws keep the drinking crowd at home where they can get trashed without liability.
 
#15
I see it getting worse. Music has changed - much of what is on the radio is very hard to reproduce with a small 3-5 person band, especially without sequencing. I'm in a party band - we play 70's-current but the dance floor picks up the most when we're on break and a techno or rap song is played over the PA.

DJs are cheap and have better volume / customer demand control than a live band from the perspective of most venue managers. From my experience, the crowds going out to see bands live do so out of generational habit. People use to go out for cheap drinks, smokes and music. These days, drinks aren't cheap, DWI penalties are higher, less people smoke (+ venues don't allow it) and you can listen to music on your phone all day instead of calling a radio station, buying the album or seeing a band just to hear that tune you like.

I see the future as more parties and one-time events than regular paying bar gigs (as a weekend warrior).
 
#16
You know, I got to thinking more about this. One thing that popped into my head is the demographic of who we are playing for, and I thought about it after reading some of the previous posts about Youtube, the internet, etc.

You would be hard pressed to find too many people under 35 or 40 years old at one of our shows. Someone mentioned the 80's aren't coming back, and yes....it's true. The people who are coming out too see us are the same people who were doing just that back 20 years ago, because that's how they spent their weekends then.....and they still do. We get older and so do our crowds.

Do younger people go out for live music? I don't know. They aren't coming out to see us, for the most part.

Tough question. Where is it all going? I don't know.
 
#17
BayStateBass said:
You would be hard pressed to find too many people under 35 or 40 years old at one of our shows. Someone mentioned the 80's aren't coming back, and yes....it's true. The people who are coming out too see us are the same people who were doing just that back 20 years ago, because that's how they spent their weekends then.....and they still do. We get older and so do our crowds.

Do younger people go out for live music? I don't know. They aren't coming out to see us, for the most part.
Click to expand...

This is the same case for my bands. We are playing for people who used to go out to music clubs when they were younger. And there are less and less of them coming out every year.
 
#19
I don't know, but personally I'm doing my best to develop some music skills outside the "real people playing real music on real instruments" realm. Don't care about money, not because I'm not greedy, but because my day job pays better than music ever will.

I should stop posting on TB now and mix some tracks for a rapper, tomorrow I'm recording a singerbabe, I promised some other singerbabes I'd work on a remake of Showtek's "Cannonball", I got a cello sample library to finish etc. Plenty to keep me amused in my spare time.
 
#20
Jarrett said:
This is the same case for my bands. We are playing for people who used to go out to music clubs when they were younger. And there are less and less of them coming out every year.
Click to expand...

In looking at some of the younger people I work with, or know (I'm talking like mid twenties) and what their entertainment habits are....they actually do like to go out to places, and live music is something they actually do enjoy, they all seem to make plans to check out bands and whatnot. But what hits me is the type of music they like, and what they go for. Usually, it's not the rock-n-roll party stuff that bands like mine cover. It tends to be other genres, mostly modern pop, techno, dubstep, and they are drawn to electronic music for the most part, it seems. Honestly, a lot of what they listen to is hard to duplicate outside a studio without a HUGE investment in sound equipment and people to run it. And when they do go out to see music, it's usually a name-brand act with a full on pro-show, where they buy tickets and are treated to a total audio/visual experience.

And I do think they are just as happy with a DJ most of the time.
 

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